Mass of the Warp
by Imperial Bob
Summary: The Imperium of Man, a massive Galatic empire collides aganist the Citadel species of another over a Nuclear wasted planet. Warhammer40k / Mass Effect / Fallout3
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

The planet Rhuban IV. A calm, tranquil place, _if such a thing exists in this Galaxy,_thought Commissar Urivin. Though he was born on Bonaventure, his duties as a Commissar brought him to the peaceful planet in the Ultima Segmentum. Far from the Eye, far from the Tau Empire and far from his home planet. Arguably, the most tranquil sliver of the Imperium. It's oceans were turquoise, the beaches were made of an exquiste purple sand and large palms sprouted along the coasts of the large, Island Hives.

Urivin was standing at the edge of the Imperial transport convoy. The large ships grumbling in the distance. He and his men, the newly conscripted Rhuban 175th. Convicts and foster children. All of them. Clad in their dull, newly issued grey and darker grey fatigues and their autumn flora colored Flak armor. They'd never seen action, yet still souvenirs and trophies cling to them, around their necks anywhere they could tie them off. All of them were waiting to load up and get sent off to some far, war torn hell hole. He stared out into the oceans. He was the last to load onto the troop transports.

"Ready to go when you are, sir," Corven told his Commissar. Corven was Urivins aid, and was quite useful... at the best of times. At most times though, he clung to the Commissar reporting the most annoying minor details.

"All right, buckle up and les'get this boat off the ground." Urivin replied, pulling on the stifling harness.

"Yes sir, right away sir," Corven moved and spoke into a Vox box,"Get us in the air, pilot."

Corven barely had time to sit back down and strap in before the ship lurched as in slowly gained altitude to the waiting, Battleship_, Gallop of Justice_. As they left the planet's atmosphere the mighty ship came into view. A grand sight. Spires reaching off from the hull, massive weapon batteries and guns protruding from the boxy stern up to the finely carved ram. Gothic architecture decorated the area around the ports.

The ship grew larger and larger until eventually they landed into port.

The port was large, massive actually. Capable of holding a couple of the transport ships. The small auxillary ports of the transport opened as the Commissar and his aid climbed out. It took about ten minutes to get to the other side of the port from the middle.

When they finally arrived at the briefing room, all the other Commissars and commanders accompaning Urivin were already seated and sipping Amaseac.

"Ah, Commissar Urivin. Glad of you to make it." A large set man stated noting the Commissars impiled tardiness.

"Shut your grubbin' slop hole Mengsk. Where we headin'?"

"Off to the Alcarus Sub-scector." Another, lean man said.

"Isn't that sector cut off by a Warpstorm?"

"Untill recently, yes. It's open now, and we've got simple enough orders: (1) Secure the sector and subdue any resistance and (2) thoroughly log the planets."

* * *

John Shepard, the only human Spectre to serve the Council; the embodiment of government in Citadel Space, was bored. Bored and annoyed. After his defeat of Saren, he lost his purpose. And now he was sitting, sitting and watching the vast cloud of the purple solar system in his quarters, the Citadel far off in the distance.

"Commander Shepard," chimmed his radio.

"What is it, Joker," Shepard replied

"Getting a message from the Council, should I patch it through?"

"Go ahead." The panels to the western wall lite up, and three holograms of the Council memebers took place.

"Commander Shepard," The female Asari began,"We have some news that you might find... interesting."

"You may be aware of the Mass Relay E-LC-451," The Turian said.

"Of course, it's in the Local Cluster, close to Earth,"

"Well, it's now full operational. The Relay signalled the Citadel on it's restart. We don't know why it suddenly activated. We need you to check it out,"

Shepard saw where this was going,"...and since it's in the Local Cluster, any attempt for a non-human expedition could draw Earth's attention,"

"Exactly. We need the Normandy to check it out and report it back to the Citadel."

"Alright, i'll see what I can do." Shepard stated before closing the link, _Finally a nice,simple misson to ease my mind._

* * *

The Enclave were encroaching on the Capital Wasteland and it's inhabitants daily. The Brotherhood of Steel was strected thin already in dealing with the Super Mutants. Sentinel Sarah Lyons doubted if they could hold out aganist such treahts. Not to mention the Lone Wanderer was long gone, somewhere off in the Wastes after being captured by the Enclave. Things were grim.

Though the Brotherhood had secured Megaton and their outposts in the city and began emergency recruitment, they were still undermanned. Not to mention the significant man power they had to divert from fighting the Mutants, and to protecting Megaton. Very grim.

And the Vertibirds, those damned aircraft that allowed the Enclave to spread like a wild fire. She was often told by scribes how they'd kill for the chance to study one of them.

The brotherhood was in trouble, and desperatly needed help.


	2. Chapter 2: Emperors Ferry

Commissar Urivin was reviewing the misson plans and orders on his data slate. Most of it was covered during the briefing. He moved the metal cup of recaff up to his lips for a sip.

_Any minute now... _

The ship rumbled as the massive ship tore open a rift in the fabric of reality. For a second, time and space seemed to tumble, and then it stopped. The ship moved evened out, Urivin senses regained their bearing and the ride was smooth as it ever was.

"Commissar, we're traveling through the Warp and should reach our target in aproximatley three weeks." Corven reported through a Intersystem vox. Urivin put down his recaff and sretched as he got up and left towards the door, grabbing up his great coat. _Better get... acquantide with the men. _

Outside of his quarters, the massive corridors were almost empty. He could hear the rumble of the engines. The only others in the corridors were the elite Naval officers in their black combat armor and rebreathers, Lasguns and Hellguns hanging on straps. Laspistols were holstered in their sheaths or rigs.

Urivin made his way for the training vault, a large section of the ship made for regiment training. The men's moral was high, for a Penal legion, at least. About 100 Guardsmen were gathered on the grounds, hand picked by the Commissar to lead the advanced recon squad. They were misfits. Armed with lasguns and flak armor. He would have to make sure they got all the equipment they needed; Krak grenades, frags, ammo, the works. And none of the Frenzon crap, he needed his men's mind's clear, not fogged with those stims.

"Alright, Guardsmen listen up." The Guardsmen dropped what they were doing."I hand picked all of you to be advanced recon, and your with me. I don't want any fuck ups. Fuck up in the field and your as good as dead. We're going to be the first ones on the ground. No room for fuck ups. Don't fuck up. Got it? Good. Now drop and give me a hundred!"

The convicts and their foster Officers hesitated a minute, a few grumbles and underbreath curses later, they were doing their work. Well, it took a little motivation... one convict decided it would be best to question a Commissar. What was left of his gored remains were being draged out by servitors. _Was'nt worth the bolt. _Urivin thought as he holstered his Bolt pistol.

He worked the men hard. They were all hard workers, and all of them large and physicaly capable from long hours spent working out during their recreation time at the slammers. Or the harsh life of Rhuban's Schola Progenium. It would be a while before their precison was satisfactory. _Three weeks to shape these misfits..._

Those three weeks went by fast. Urivin had several good sergeants now, and the lead company were as good as they were going to be. It would'nt take long to exit the warp now.

As if on que the massive Emperors-class battleship exited the warp.

* * *

The Normandy exploded into space with a resounding bang.

"Cleared the jump, boss, like usual-"

"Save it Joker," Shepard walked up towards the pilots chair,"Get us to E-LC-451."

"Yes sir!"

The Normandy opened up the FTL engines and engaged the Element Zero, the powercource. Element Zero effectivley reduced the mass of the ship, allowing it to cover space faster than light.

It took a few seconds until the Normandy plunged back into space.

"Sir, picking up UFO's," Joker reported.

"What? In the Local Cluster? Identify them!"

"Their Salarian design, sir." As if on que, the ships turned towards the Normandy. And opened fire.

"Shit! What the hell are they doing?," Shepard yelled,"Patch me through to them,"

"Ready when you are,"

"This is the Alliance ship Normandy, there's a Spectre on board. Power down your weapons!" They didnt respond. "Ah, shit. To hell with them," He said with a wave of his hand, as if dismissing them as a threat,"Blow them from the sky."

The Normandy's main gun running the length of the ship opened up. The first Salarian was caught off guard, the ship was shredded. It's various constipulant pieces floating away. The other two engaged their FTL and tucked tail and ran.

"All clear," reported Joker.

"I can see that," Shepard took a breath. _Salarians, in the Local Cluster? _"Bring us in Joker, right up to that relay."

"Yes sir."

"Ill be in the conference room." said Shepard. He had to inform the council, and chances were the political ramifications would be enormous.

* * *

Sentinel Lyons stared out from the top of Moriarty's Saloon. Megaton was sleeping, and the Brotherhood manned the defences. Before the Lone Wanderer deactivated the nuclear bomb in the center of town, the Brotherhood would have never even thought of wasting the man power on these locals.

_But things are different now, _the sentinel thought. _The Capital wasteland needs hope, and protecters more then ever now tha- _

A massive explosion from the otherside of the town snapped her back into the world. The Paladins of the Brotherhood were rushing over to the now shatered flank of the town as fast as their power armor would allow them.

Lyons could just barely make out the devilish shapes emerging, silhouted aganist the burning emebers of the town wall. One word raced through her mind. _Enclave! _

She grabbed her sniper rifle off her back and took aim. Fire was now being exchanged between the Brotherhood and the Enclave, and the bright discharge of laser weapons and plasma was bright in the black of night. Lyons slowly pullled the trigger, and the .75 caliber round smashed into a Enclave's soldier's Mk II power armor, denting it. The soldier's head darted around, looking for the sniper. Lyons took careful aim this time, and put a shot inbetween the soldiers eyes.

The two nearest soldiers to their decapitated comrade spoted her and opened fire, the las-fire schoring the nearby shacks. Several hitting Lyons. She tumbled back and fell flat on her back, trying to find cover. She could feel the heat from the shots through her armor.

_Shit!_

She had dropped her rifle over the edge of the building.

She turned over onto her back and pulled out her 10mm side arm and began inching up to the edge of the building to get a birds-eye view of the urban battlefield.

At this point the Enclave had captured the center of town, and Enclave and Brotherhood troops litered the ground. Some tangled togehter in death in last-resort melees. She bagan firing into the Enclave men. Her shots were futile as the 10mm rounds bounced and pinged off their armor.

For a moment the raging war for megaton had quieted, and Lyons could hear scratching. It seemed to emanate from under the town. Then the unthinkable, the door to the pumping station flung open and the old man that mainained it flew over the ridge bars of the catwalk. From the opened door rotten, irratatied people rushed out. Feral ghouls. With in seconds it seemed the battle was raging again as Paladins who had taken cover to reload and the Enclave who held the Town Center roared back to life as the ghouls felll upon them.

For all the strength and benefits of power armor, the ghouls managed to shred it as if it wasnt there. They charged, fought and hurled themselves around with reckless abandon.

The sentinel tryed to take a head count, but amidist the confiosn it was hard to estimate. She counted about 13 Enclave soldiers, maybe 6 Paladins and around 25 ghouls.

It was now safe for her to get up now that the Enclave were occupied with the ghouls. The Paladins were falling back to front of town, and Megatons residences were waking up. Lyons could hear their screams as they were masacared in their beds by the Ghouls. The towns sheriff and it's two mercs were the only two she could spot with the Paladins.

Now that she was able to get up, the sentinel ran towards the Paladins last grip on the town. Ghouls were running out wildly from houses. She smashed them aside and over the railing, down to the bottom of the town. She had used up the pistol's ammo on the Enclave, and only had a combat knife left.

As she was running, a ghoul exploded from the door nearest her and tackled her, both flying over the railing.

Time seemed to slow for the Sentinel as she tumbled through the air. Then a smash, and she lost feeling in her extremities.

When feeling returned, she could see the ghoul sprawled out a few feet away from her. The Enclave were being routed back into the Wasteland. The few surviing Paladins were rounding up the ghouls and burning them, or stripping Enclave soldiers of their armor and ammo and weapons.

Lyons got up. Her ancient armor creaking. She moved towards the ghoul. It looked dead enough, then she made a mistake; she turned her back to it. With in seconds, it was up and tackled her to the ground. The paladins were busy with the Enclave, and dint notice the scuffle. Lyons was on her back, her knife a few inches out of her grasp. She punched the ghoul in the face, and grabbed her knife. The ghoul had recovered and was attempting to knaw her face off. She held it back with her arm, and jammed the knife in the ghouls temple. He fell off her.

The sentinel herself through the ghoul into the fire.


	3. Chapter 3: Hurtled

"Commissar," Urivin's aide, Corven interrupted Urivin's thoughts via Urivins private vox built into his data-slate,"we've left the Warp. Welcome to Alcarus, sir."

Urivin got up out of his chair, grabbing his data-slate off the table. The massive shutters that blocked sight of the Warp opened up, letting the ambient light of the systems star filter into his large room.

_Better get to the briefing. _

This time, the corridors were bustling with guardsmen, naval security and various tech-priests. The commissar began walking, reading from his data-slate as he walked. He didn't have to worry about bumping into people; most had enough sense to avoid a commissar at any cost.

After various ladders, cramped corridors, steep steps and the winding maze of the massive battleship, _Gallop of Justice, _Urivin finally arrived at the last mision briefing. To his surprise, he was the only one there besides his aide.

"Welcome Commisssar Urivin! As leader of the advanced recon company this briefing is very important as long-range Vox communications may not be available on the surface of the planets," The general began as Urivin took his seat, "If such is the case your standing orders are to continue with the mission. Secure the planet, cleanse all taint, and convert what ever may be left of the Imperium back into the fold until communications be made available. This also means you'll be in charge of all operations, a Colonel-Commissar if you will. Deployment is at 0600, im sure you won't be late."

0600 Hours; Deployment

"Commissar, I've just been informed of a scuffle on the planet that was detected by our sensors as soon as we dropped out of Warp. I've taken the liberty of sending the co-ordinates to your data-slate. I recomend landing nearby; we couldn't get clear images but they may be human in nature. If they're not... well I don't have to tell tell. Good luck, may the Emperor be with you." The general said via Vox before the Commissar loaded onto a troop transport; one of the three Valkyries carrying the men of the Advanced recon. "Oh and one more thing, a squad of Sisters of Battle and a Missionary will be the shock infantry of this operation. They will operate separately to subvert locals. Over-and-out."

The guardsmen were more than ready. Armed with their Lasguns and Flak armor, carrying their rations, spare ammo cells and their trinket weapons. They even managed to get a full compliment of gasmasks for every guardsmen. Morale was high.

With a mighty thud as the suspended Valkyries were dropped from their vertical suspension and out the smaller secondary hangers directly under the primary ones.

They soared through space, the gravity generated by the battleship faded and was replaced with zero gravity. The men were firmly strapped in by harnesses and belts.

"What's the job, Commissar?" asked one of the men.

"Restore the God Emperors might to this misbegotten fringe on the ass of the galaxy!" Urivin said. The men shouted their support.

The Valkyrie began shuddering as they entered atmosphere. Not long after the gravity took place again, the Valkyrie began hovering. _We must be landing. _Urivinthought. The cargo door opened, "Go, go, go!" He shouted. The men's harnesses retracted as they unbuckled and hopped onto their feet. After the initial disembarking the guardsmen began pulling out supplies; large blast-crates of ammo, supplies and various coginators.

A single other Valkyrie flew over head.

_Must be the Sisters._

"Alright, what do we have here men?" He asked

"Supplies, sir,"

"And this?"

"Looks like a heavy weapon crate, sir."

Urivin popped open the hermetically sealed lid and let it fall back on it's hinges. A single, lovely Heavy Bolter and ammo we're caressed in memory foam.

"How many of these do we have?"

"I believe about nine sir."

"Good. Have the teams carry these. We need to find a suitable camp." Urivin said as he looked around. The land was mostly dead. Dead grass, and a few dead or dying trees were all that was left along with the ruins of houses. The land was hilly, and the ruins would have made a horrible camp site. They were small, open spaces offering little cover and currently occupied the lower ground. "Tactica said there was a possible human settlement close by, if we haul ass we may be able to find it before night-fall." Of course he had no clue when night-fall was on this planet, but it was good for morale.

* * *

"And you are sure that they were Salarians?"

"For the last time, yes. I'm sure." Shepard said again. The council was always irritating to deal with. More concerned with politics and justice and what not than the actual universe they lived in. That was what the spectres were for, agents who operated outside the law. But, of course, all organisations have some form of corruption, like the rogue Saren.

"Very well. Continue with your mission. Though I'd recommend not informing any else of this." The Turian said.

"Understood."

The connection then ended.

"Joker," Shepard spoke into the radio mounted on the wall.

"Yeah boss,"

"Take us in towards E-LC-451."

"Yes sir!" A second later,"Whoa, getting weird power signatures from that Relay sir. It's four times the size of a regular relay!"

"What? It was the same size as all relays when it was catalogued, check again Joker,"

"I'm sure boss. Thing's must'a grew like a plant or some shit."

"Pull us up to it."

'Yes sir... wait... shit!"

"What is it Joker?"

"We're being pulled in, that thing is active sir!"

"Send an emergency communique to the Council!"

"yes sir!"

For a split second, time seemed to curve and space grew colder.

* * *

The ghouls were finished burning, leaving only ashes and bone. After the Enclave men were stripped they were also burned.

"So, report." Sentinel Lyons ordered the Paladin in charge.

"We lost three Paladins, including Bob, but we managed to scavenge about six operational laser rifles, plenty of ammo and some of that devil armor."

"Good... what about the residents?"

"Most we found minced in their beds. A few survivors. It will take a while to find material to patch that hole up with, though." He said gesturing to where the Enclave had blasted in.

"Keep me informed." Lyons said."I'm going to take those Mercs and see if I can't find those routing men."

The sentinel gestured to the Mercs. Both wearing worn and faded combat armor and an assault rifle. They followed her out into the Capital wasteland.

By this time it was day. The Capital wasteland was a golden brown from the dead grass and light reflecting off the dirt. The soldiers tracks were clear in the mud and lead around Megaton off towards, and this is the odd part, the opposite direction of the Capital city, the Enclaves stranglehold on the wasteland.

"We'll keep pace untill evening, then we'll turn back." She said to the mercs when suddenly what looked like Vertibirds shot up from the ground and into the air. _Shit, they must have got transport out."_Alright, lets go check this out then we can go back."

Half-way to the Vertibirds point of exit she could barely make out distant shapes wearing black colored armor. "Hold on a minute."

"What is it?" One merc asked. He was wearing goggles with a head wrap and a Hunting rifle.

"Get down Stockholm!" She whispered. They took cover behind a rock and she pulled out a pair of binoculars. The men were about a hundred strong; A massive number by wasteland standards. Her first thought was Enclave, but these men didnt wear power armor. Instead they had black combat armor and rifles she had never seen before, a rarety since the Brotherhood kept and maintained a sizable armoury."Shit, looks like Talon Company."

"Out here in the wasteland? No, that cant be them. Those mercs barely have any men left after the Enclave wiped them out of the Capital city. No, these guys are something else." Replied the second Merc.

"Alright. We'd better get back to Megaton and warn them. I'm sure the Elder'll wanna hear this."


End file.
